Trinamool Congress (TMC) has suspended Rajya Sabha MP Kunal Ghosh after he embarrassed the party by publicly alleging that its top leadership was trying to make him a scapegoat in the Saradha scam.

The suspension comes into immediate effect and is for an indefinite
period.

The R20,000-crore Saradha Group scam was exposed in April this year with the arrest of its owner Sudipto Sen and other top associates, who were running a Ponzi scheme through a consortium of their companies. The scam duped at least 1.7 million investors and led many of them as well as agents to commit suicide. Ghosh’s name figured among a couple of TMC ministers and MPs, who were allegedly linked with the scam. He was the chief executive officer of Saradha’s media unit.

“The disciplinary committee of the party met on Friday, where all three members unanimously decided to suspend Kunal Ghosh for his continuous anti-party tirade and his efforts to tarnish the image of the party in public,” said head of the committee and industry minister Partha Chatterjee on Saturday.

The controversy started on September 20 when three MPs — Ghosh, Satabdi Roy and Tapas Pal — criticised the party at a blood donation camp organised by Sikha Mitra, Trinamool MLA of Chowringhee and wife of another disgruntled party MP, Somen Mitra.

According to Chatterjee, two other MPs, who had used strong words like Ghosh, have apologised to party chief Mamata Banerjee in writing.

However, Chatterjee remained mum on Diamond Harbour MP Mitra, who is rumoured to be behind an exercise to strike a deal with the Congress, his old party, which he can join with several disgruntled MPs MLAs and local body leaders of the TMC.